Kingdom Hearts III: The Final Fantasy
by Zack Rello
Summary: Sora has fought and won against Maleficent and Organization XIII. But can he and his friends stand against the likes of Sephiroth, Kuja, and the other Final Fantasy villains when they make a play for Kingdom Hearts? Current world: Midgar.
1. Prologue

**_A/N:_** Hello fellow KH fans, and welcome to Zack Rello's interpretation of Kingdom Hearts III. This is a story born of patterns, particularly the patterns in the villains. The first game's antagonists (excluding Ansem/Xehanort's Heartless) were the Disney villains, CoM and II had original characters made for the games, and so whose turn is it now? In my opinion, seeing as this is Disney-Final Fantasy crossover, the great Final Fantasy villains should have a shot at Sora and company. So then, without further ado, I give you Kingdom Hearts III!

**_Disclaimer: _**I do not own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of Square-Enix's or Disney's characters. All properties are owned by their respective owners.

* * *

_**Prologue**_

"Then Organization XIII is no more?" one of the eight around the table questioned. The man, if one could even call him that knowing what he truly was, resembled a medieval knight in light blue armour crossed with a near-extinct group that had once been called Black Mages. He sat with a regal disposition, one secure in his power, absentmindedly drumming his fingers against the head of his wooden staff.

"Well, yes and no, I suppose." replied the one who had brought them the news, striding across the table in a way so that his robes and long blue hair made the movement appear more grandiose that it actually was. "The final six were dealt with quite effectively by the Keybearer, However…"

"What exactly happened Seymour?" a man with a horned headdress and kingly robes asked, leaning forward and pressing his elongated fingernails together, a mix of curiosity and impatience in his eyes.

If Seymour was affected by the interruption, he didn't show it and continued "Number XIII and the memory witch managed to become whole with their other selves."

That brought out a cold, mocking laughing from the groups second in command, a laugh which perfectly fit the image of an evil clown, helped along by his flamboyant green attire, cape, red facial markings and pale skin (a few Heartless had learned the hard way it wasn't makeup). "It makes no difference! The Keybearer and Princess becoming whole doesn't affect our plans in the slightest. Although," he paused as he jerked his head to his left, an insane grin spreading across his face, "this does prove that Nobodies can be reunited with their hearts. As you can see Zande, sticking with us has indeed paid off. Your one step closer to your heart's desire…though I'm not sure the one holding that heart is too thrilled!" and the mocking laughter began anew.

Zande, for his part, said nothing, did nothing but allow the scowl on his dark face to deepen, his teeth and eyes glowing in the torch light, a dark silhouette of black mist forming around him. _"Laugh while you can Kefka," _he though. "_If I can't reclaim my heart, I'll gladly take yours."_

"Kefka, that's enough. Zande, call off you Heartless. Seymour, take your seat. We have other matters that can be attended to now that we no longer need to worry about Ansem or Organization XIII." A cultured voice rang out, not loud, but filled with an undeniable authority. Seymour scurried to his seat, Zande dismissed the black fog around him, and Kefka (eventually) stopped laughing and settled on a mad grin. "Now then," the earlier voice continued, running a hand through his silver hair "moving on, how goes the recruitment of the General to our cause Ultimecia?"

The group's only female member arose and delivered her report. "Better than expected, not as well as we hoped. Between his obsession with Cloud and his mother, X-Death and I haven't had a lot of luck convincing him."

"It would help if we could find Cloud. Damn kid is like a ghost." The knight know as X-Death added. "I've searched Hollow Bastion and Olympus Coliseum, and Gilgamesh has been tailing Tifa since she left to find him-nothing. I think we'd be best off using Jenova instead."

"I concur." the leader replied. "Ultimecia and her apprentice will move on to the next stage of the plan, I'll leave recruiting Sephiroth to you and Zemus. After all, manipulation is your speciality."

A man in azure blue armour stirred at the leader's words. His heavy armour rattled as he made slow, deliberate movements, as if awakening from a deep slumber. **"Very well, it shall be done. We need only the co-ordinates."**

"All in good time Zemus." the leader replied with a chuckle. "Now then, if and when Garland decides to show up, we can —" the word lost in the loud crashing of the room's doors. "Speak of the devil. You certainly took your good sweet time."

The knight standing in the doorway chuckled and stepped forward "It took me awhile to find a Keychain I liked. You'd think on a world filled with Keyblades it would be easier, but such is life, eh Kuja?" His silver armour glittering in torch light, he took a seat next to aforementioned man then continued "Ah well, better late than never; speaking of which, your loyal subjects are looking for you Paramecia, so you should probably go deal with them."

The man with the horned headdress nodded. "Just as well, one of us has to keep the population on our side. By your leave, Kuja."

Kuja leaned back in his chair, making a dismissive gesture "On that note, you can all return to your duties. I'd like to speak with Kefka and Garland in private." Once the others had shuffled out and doors had closed, he turned to the other men, his two most trusted companions. "The time has finally come; we will reveal ourselves to our enemies and, through them, Kingdom Hearts will be ours. Kefka, you'll go after Maleficent, the last thing we want is for her to interfere. Steal her heart if so fits your whim."

"But then we'd have a pathetic Heartless to deal with!" Kefka chortled. "Don't worry Kuja; I'll give her quite a show."

"I'm certain you will." Kuja said as he turned to Garland. "I suppose it goes without saying that you will be going after the Keybearer."

"I'd have it no other way." The knight responded, summoning a familiar dark keyblade into his hand; the same Keyblade forged from the 7 princesses hearts. "Sora and Riku will make fine additions to the Chasers."

"Just make sure you do not take the heart of the princess, she still has a part to play in our scheme." Kuja warned as got up and headed for the door.

"And where, pray tell, are you going?" Garland inquired.

Kuja smirked as he took a dramatic turn, "Why, good sirs, I have an audience with King Mickey."

* * *

**_A/N:_** Well, "the board is set and the pieces are in motion" to quote Gandalf. So just some quick notes. For those of you who haven't played all 10 of the main Final Fantasy games and aren't sure whose who, I suggest you check out FF Compendium or Wikipedia for information, though I've tried my best to describe them here. Also, Sora, Riku, and Kairi won't be showing up 'till chapter 2, but Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are in the next chapter. Anyway, read and review, constructive criticisms welcome, and hope to see you all next chapter. 


	2. Chapter 1

**_A/N: _**I've noticed that not everyone knows the Final Fantasy villains being used, so I'm going to break it down by game: FF 1: Garland, FF 2: Paramecia, FF 3: Zande, FF 4: Zemus, FF 5: X-Death, FF 6: Kefka, FF 7: Sephiroth (like everyone didn't already know that.), FF 8: Ultimecia, FF 9: Kuja, FF 10: Seymour  
Got it memorized? (pays Axle royalty fee) I hope this helps a little. Now on to Chapter 1!

**_Disclaimer:_** I do not own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of Square-Enix's or Disney's characters. All properties are owned by their respective owners.

* * *

_**Chapter 1**_

Goofy stretched out on the garden grass and yawned. It felt great to go back to the relaxing way things had been before the Heartless had show up and King Mickey had headed off alone, leaving him and Donald to search for the Keybearer. He still remembered when they had (quite literally) crashed into Sora back in Traverse Town, and all the adventures the three had gone on over the last 2 odd years.

He opened his eyes and looked up at the clouds. As happy as he, Donald and the king were to be home, he missed having Sora around. Maybe it was his sense of justice, or the fact the was always just a little naïve, or that he could always look on the bright side of things; what ever it was, it made Sora a dear comrade and even dearer friend.

Goofy heard soft footsteps passing by and sat up quickly. _"Heartless"_, was his first thought, before he remembered that the Cornerstone of Light kept those creatures at bay. The pair of bipedal mice walking by simply proved the point and brought a simile to his face. "'Morning your majesty, Queen Minnie."

The king and queen of Disney Castle waved at the captain of the guard and continued to the throne room. It had been three months: three months since Xemnas was defeated, three months since he'd returned to Disney Castle, back to Minnie and the others, back to the way things had always been. And Mickey couldn't be happier; after everything that had happened, normal was a dream come true.

The couple reached the enormous doors of the throne room and Mickey opened the secret, smaller door, making a little bow and letting Minnie enter first. She gave that adorable little giggle of hers as she curtseyed and walked in to the room. She took perhaps all of five steps before she suddenly stopped and let out surprised "Oh!"

Mickey quickly followed in after his wife and asked "Minnie, what is it?" but even as he did, his eyes fell on the figure lying across his throne. The person appeared very feminine, at first Mickey thought it was a woman, with sliver hair that fell the length of his back. Mickey continued to examine the person: He was definitely male; the very revealing purple vest he wore exposed his lower chest and midriff left no doubt of that. The rest of the sparse outfit consisted of a purple sash around his waist, the large clasp covering his groin, holding a white, open, lower robe revealing his legs, mostly covered by high purple boots. His arms were covered by white, cloak-like sleeves, allowing the hands to barley peek out except when raised as one was now, the man (of all things) inspecting the painted nails, taking no note of the arrival of the king and queen.

Mickey looked at Minnie, silently asking "_Friend of yours?" _She shook her head and he shrugged, neither recognizing the strange man. "My apologies if I startled you, your majesties. I wanted an audience with you, King Mickey, and since the door was open I let myself in." The two mice snapped their heads towards the man on the throne, who took one last look at his nails and, with a satisfied nod he got up and started towards the two.

"Golly, most people usually aren't so eager to meet the King of such an ordinary world." Mickey said politely, though it was noticeable forced. Something about this man didn't sit right with him, and Mickey had learned from his time in the Dark Realm to go with gut instincts. "So, what is that brings you to Disney Castle?"

The man stopped with in attacking distance of the royal couple, and it took all of Mickey's self-control not to summon his Keyblade, for could provoke an attack and he was not about to put Minnie in danger. The strange man smiled, a smile that had a lot in common with crocodiles, and he made a dramatic bow. "I wanted to meet you: King Mickey, one of the people who brought down Organization XIII, friend to Ansem the Wise, wielder of the Keyblade of the Realm of Darkness." He stood straight and looked into the shocked faces of the royal couple. "No, King Mickey, you know nothing about me, but I know everything about you: I know that before you were king you worked for Pete on his steamboat, that's how you and Minnie met. Not long after that you and Pete competed for her affections at Horsecollar's barn dance. You were such a terrible dancer you resorted to putting a balloon in your pants to be "lighter on your feet", but she wasn't too amused and you were left crying as she chose Pete over you. But you made it back into her good graces and had several adventures with her before finally gathering up your courage to propose to her."

Minnie was too shocked to speak, while Mickey was both shocked and angry. This man had waltzed into the castle, gotten into to throne room (and therefore dangerously close to the Cornerstone) unnoticed, and seemed to know first hand some of the most important moments in Mickey's life. "Well," Mickey started after a long pause "it seems like you've done your homework, but I get the feeling you didn't come here for just a pleasant chat."

"Maybe, maybe not." The man said, turning his head towards Minnie. "Shall we continue this in private?"

"Lets." Mickey replied. He gave the slightest of nods to his wife and whispered "Find Donald and Goofy." She said nothing, but he knew she heard as she exited the room and closed the small door. There was a flash of light as a golden Keyblade appeared in Mickey's hand. He then looked down at his clothes; certainly no battle uniform, it was a jacket and pants in royal blue, clothes fit for a king, a gift from Minnie.

**RIP!**

He tore the sleeves past the elbows and the pant legs just below the knees. As much as he liked this outfit, it impeded his freedom of movement, and that could cost him dearly in a fight. "One last question, before we begin." Mickey asked as he tossed aside a piece of cloth. "What's your name?"

"Kuja." The man replied, putting a hand on his chin thoughtfully. "You know, your wife is going to incredibly pissed at you for ruining that outfit."

"Pearl!" and Mickey shot the holy energy forward. He watched as spell hit its target, creating a small explosion and covering Kuja in smoke. But Mickey knew the battle was far from over.

"Pearl? Not bad, that's certainly one of the higher level white magic spells." Kuja said. The smoke began to clear, revealing him with his hand raised, surrounded by a bright blue sphere. "Don't recognize this spell do you? It's called Shell; think of it as Aero that blocks magic instead of physical attacks. But it requires a great amount of strength to maintain, so," he lowered his hand and the sphere disappeared, and smirk began to play across his face "How about I use something your more familiar with?" With the theatricality of a seasoned actor Kuja swung his hand towards Mickey, the word Thundaga barley audible as dozens of lightening bolts rained down on the mouse.

Mickey swerved through electric storm, never taking his eyes off his enemy. Pushing past the last of the lightening bolts, he launched himself at Kuja and swung his Keyblade. The silver haired man was too surprised by the king's speed to retaliate, and paid for it when he was launched across the room by the mighty blow. Mickey watched as Kuja crashed into the ground before he pointed his Keyblade at him. "A fancy shield, a little magic, can't say I'm all that impressed Kuja."

Kuja forced himself to his feet and tried to ignore the pain. Mickey wasn't pulling his punches; the blow probably would have obliterated a Neoshadow and left most physical beings down for the count. "Not impressed? Alright then, let's finish the warm up and move to the main event." he let the magical energy gather around him, his eyes filled with murder. "Your fast, but can you up with this? Haste!" and he disappeared before Mickey's eyes, only reappear beside him and unleash a powerful ring of fire, scorching the mouse king seeding him into a tumble.

Mickey quickly righted himself and braced himself, just as Kuja sent a barrage of Blizzaga blasts, seemingly warping in and out of reality, but it was truly just extreme speed. _"So, this is the power of Haste."_ Mickey thought as he continued to block and deflect the frozen blasts. He knew this spell from his days studying with Yen Sid; a spell designed to increase the casters speed. _"Never thought it could increase this much." _Mickey remarked as he reacted a second too slow and was punished with an ice crystal smashing into his head.

* * *

"Come on Donald, you promised!" Daisy scolded as she tailed her boyfriend. It was just like him, promise her a romantic evening with dinner and dancing and then call it off at the last minute. 

Donald tried not to blush as turned towards Daisy "Err…I know I did, and trust me I have a wonderful time planed. It's just that…something came up!"

Daisy had heard that excuse a hundred times before. She crossed her arms and sighed "Your broke again, aren't you?"

Donald rubbed the back of his head apologetically when he felt someone grab his hand and yank him away. At first he was thankful to have gotten out of that situation, until he looked up to see Goofy, shield in hand, his face as serious as it ever got. "The king needs our help." Was all he said, and that was all that was needed for Donald to ready his staff and nod at his friend.

* * *

"Gravira!" and Mickey was slammed into the wall of the throne room. "Gravira!" Kuja said and Mickey was flung into the opposite wall. Kuja had to admit he was enjoying this; he had the king completely at his mercy after he hit him with Blizzaga, and had spent the last few minutes smacking between the walls. But it was time to end this game. "Graviga!" he yelled, and the enhanced gravity smashed Mickey into the floor. "I was told what to expect from you," Kuja started as he sauntered up to the battered and bruised from of King Mickey "but I wasn't expecting such a poor show Mickey…may I call you Mickey? Since you're certainly not much of a king, I mean." 

"I…" Mickey spat, slowly forcing himself up. He was hurt, hurt almost as bad as when he and Sora had fought Xaldin, but still he stood, ready for battle, defiant against the enemy. "I won't let you beat me Kuja!"

If Kuja had a clever retort ready, Mickey never heard it. He only saw the Save the King hit Kuja's side and knock him to the floor, and felt his wounds heal as Donald cast Curaga. The court magician and head of the royal guard stood between their king and the invader. "All right," questioned Donald "what's the big idea?"

"Yeah, ya can't go around barging into a king's throne room and attacking 'em." Goofy added, quickly glancing back to king Mickey to make sure he was alright before turning his attention back to the man in front of him.

The figure on the floor lay unmoving, and for a moment the trio hoped he was down for good. "Heh, looks like Keybearer has powerful allies." Kuja muttered as he catapulted off the ground and put some distance between him and the group. "Since you so powerful," he said as he put his hand forward "you'll have no trouble surviving this!" magical energy swirled and gathered in the space between the two parties. The energy began to grow into a glowing orange-red ball, waiting to be released. Kuja muttered a single word as sick grin took his face: "Flare."

The explosion was powerful enough to tear the doors and send them flying into the pillars outside as well as blow a few good sized holes in the roof. The inside of throne room was completely destroyed, only two things remained: the covering of the secret entrance to the hall of the Cornerstone, and a group of three friends standing behind Goofy's shield amongst the ruins. Donald lowered his staff let out the breath he was holding. "Thank goodness Reflega magic." He remarked looking at the damaged Save the Queen.

"And good shields." Goofy noted, looking at the melted and cracked face of his Save the King. Reflega only lasted for a second before dissipating, but a combination of that and his shield blocking the explosion had keep them alive, though each had mild catalogue of burns, cuts and bruises. Goofy turned his eyes from his shield to the ruined room. "Now where'd that guy go?"

"Long gone, he either used a dark portal to escape…or other means." Mickey replied as he turned and began heading towards the library.

"Wait, your Majesty what are you doing?" Donald asked as he and Goofy followed their king into the library.

Mickey sat down at the desk and pulled out a piece of paper and a quill pen from a drawer. "I'm warning Sora and the others, then I'll fill you two in on what happened, and after that," Mickey winced slightly at the pain in his shoulder, but smiled "we should probably take care of our injuries."

The mouse king then set himself fully on writing the letter, something Kuja had told him repeating itself in his mind: _"I've no intention of killing you—yet. I need at least one Keyblade wielder to accomplish our goals."_

* * *

**_A/N: _**Looks like Sora and company are going to have a few problems on the Destiny Islands. Let's see, notes: When Kuja is talking about Mickey's past, he's actually talking about 2 early Mickey Mouse cartoons, _Steamboat Willie _and _The Barn Dance_. Also, when I talk about Sora and Mickey fighting Xaldin, I speak from personal experience. When I fought him, he beat the hell out of me (twice), and Mickey came up and beat the hell out of him, all Sora did was deliver the last few blows. So I give them both credit for that one. Also, I'd like to thank my reviewers CSOmega (who knew all the PlayStation generation FF villains and advertised me in _What Really Happened when you went into KH_) and Tolea (who I'd like to submit a proposal of exactly what is she want's concerning the character, I'll consider it when I know exactly what your thinking of doing ) . Hope to see you and all other readers next chapter! 


	3. Chapter 2

**_Disclaimer:_** I do not own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of Square-Enix's or Disney's characters. All properties are owned by their respective owners.

* * *

__

_**Chapter 2**_

"Nothing's changed, huh?" Riku asked as he looked into the sunset.

"Nope. Nothing will." Sora replied as he leaned against the Paopu tree.

"What a small world."

"But part of one that's much bigger."

"Yeah." Riku agreed, reminiscing over the last 2 years. A lot had happened to him; he felt more than once that he had lost himself to darkness completely, but Sora had never given up searching for him. Riku knew he was truly blessed to have such a good friend.

"Hey Riku…" Sora suddenly asked as he turned up to his friend. "What do you think it was—the door to the light?"

Riku got off the tree and chuckled before he tapped Sora right above his necklace. "This."

"This?" Sora repeated a little puzzled, putting a hand over his heart.

"Yeah. It's always closer than you think."

Sora took all of one second to process what Riku said. Of course he was right; his heart would always be close to him, and all the friends he had made through his travels, and mostly, it would be close to his dearest friends: Goofy, Donald, Riku, Kairi. Sora's face broke into a grin.

"Sora! Riku!" Kairi called as she ran over to the two, a glass bottle in hand.

"Hey, what's up?" Sora asked as Riku moved up to stand beside him.

Kairi took a moment to catch her breath before she held out the bottle for Sora to examine its contents: a letter sealed with a familiar crest resembling a head and two large ears.

"From the king?" Sora thought aloud as took the bottle from Kairi and shook the letter out, quickly unfurling it and beginning to read along with Riku and Kairi.

_**Dear Sora, Riku and Kairi,**_

**_I know that you're all happy to be back home and I'm truly sorry to put you three in this position. But it seems the agents of darkness never rest. I'm writing this letter to warn you that a man named Kuja seems to be seeking out Keyblade wielders. I'm not sure exactly what he's planning, but it can't be good. As you can guess, this means that the three of you are definitely targets. That's why I'm going to have Donald and Goofy bring you to Disney Castle, where we can plan our next move. I hope you understand. Donald and Goofy will get there sometime tomorrow, so be ready._**

_**Sincerely,**_

**_King Mickey_**

"Kuja…" Riku ran the name over his tongue as thought it was poisonous.

Sora turned from the letter to Riku. "Do you know him?" he question quietly. If Riku did know him, it would have been from when he was battling the darkness within himself. He and Kairi always made an effort to avoid bringing up any painful memories.

"No." Riku said "But that name sounds familiar, like I heard it a long time ago."

Sora simply nodded and re-read the letter. This was unfair; he'd finally found Riku and returned home, defeated Maleficent and Organization XIII, wasn't that enough even for a Keybearer? Hey let out a heavy sigh, then grinned "Well, at least we get to see Donald and Goofy again. And you'll both be with me this time."

Kairi nodded and smiled widely, while Riku looked a bit perplexed. "Both of us? As in me and Kairi?"

"Why, you don't like having me around?' Kairi snapped, putting her fists on her hips and giving Riku a mock death glare.

Riku was completely unfazed; he knew Kairi was joking around. He wasn't though, "It's not that and you know it. We're not going sit around eating sea salt ice cream waiting for Kuja, we're going to go after him, and it's going to be dangerous."

Kairi held out her hand and watched as the Keyblade Riku had given her back in at the Castle That Never Was, "So what did you give me this for then? I can fight, I can come too." waving the weapon in front of Riku's face as if to prove it

"She has a good point Riku." Sora added, completely oblivious to older boy's "your supposed to be on my side" expression.

Riku sighed and placed two fingers on his forehead, "Nothing I say is going to change your mind is it?'

"Nope," Kari beamed "I didn't wait for you two for a year just to be left behind again."

"I think we're forgetting the most dangerous thing about this," Sora said, trying to keep the two from arguing "how exactly we going to tell our parents?'

The three of them exchanged glances and for a moment no one said anything. It was Riku who broke the silence "We're going who knows where to fight some guy we know nothing about, and your worried about how we're going to tell our parents?" he looked so serious, but Sora and Kairi knew that he was holding back a smile, and that was all it took to send the three friends into uproarious laughter.

"I don't know about you Riku, but my mom is going to kill me when I tell her. I mean remember how freaked out she was about the "giant mouse"…" the voice faded as the three friends walked away from the island. Unaware they we're being watched by alien eyes.

Hidden in the shadows of the entrance to the secret place, a mysterious being watched the three walked along the beach, laughing and talking. Perhaps he had been like that once, a long time ago, but he would never know. He waited until the boat carrying the three friends was far in the distance before he stepped into the fading sunlight. He was fairly tall and covered in armour, the most striking feature being two "ears" that rose straight up from the helmet. He stood on the beach completely motionless, watching the boat move farther away until it was completely out of sight. They would attack soon, as the master had decreed. And the master's word was law to the Keyblade Chasers.

* * *

Sora looked at the moon high in the sky from his bedroom, too excited to sleep. Even though he didn't know what to expect on the journey ahead, he wasn't worried; he knew as long as he was with his friends, things would turn out fine. They always had in the past.

"_I wonder where Donald and Goofy are right now?" _Sora thought as he heard his bedroom door creak open slightly. "Mom?" Sora asked as he turned slightly. Was she still mad about him going? She hadn't seemed very upset, but then, she was a mom and…

The door swung open and Sora barley moved out of the way when a very large Keyblade smashed into the windowsill. Acting on autopilot, Sora immediately summoned the Ultima weapon and slashed down at the invader, who pried his blade from the wood and blocked the strike, catching Sora's blade between the large teeth.

Sora quickly got a look at his enemy; a knight completely covered in armour, the helmet sporting a pair of straight ears and a visor covering the eyes. The man twisted his Keyblade in attempt to throw Sora off, but he followed the movement rather the fight it, sending the Keybearer into a controlled spin that enabled him to slash at his opponent, thought the knight moved so the only a bit of his cape was sliced off. Sora landed on his feet and quickly readied himself. He could sense the familiar darkness coming off this man; he'd felt it many times before, he'd almost fallen prey to it to save Kairi. "You're a Heartless aren't you." It was a statement, not a question.

But the Heartless knight did something Sora could never have expected. He nodded. He understood what was said. And then he rushed at Sora.

* * *

"Alright, you're no ordinary Heartless. If you were, you wouldn't be enjoying this so much." Riku remarked as he crossed Keyblades with the Heartless knight. He looked similar to knight Sora was fighting at that very moment, though this one was shorter and the helmet ears were angled back. He slouched low, almost like a wild beast, his fighting style a mix of trickery and frenzied attacks. He pushed back from Riku and tossed his Keyblade back and forth between his hands, a Keyblade about as long as the Ultima weapon, with a reddish-orange hand guard and dark blue shaft, ending in fireball shaped blade. He took firm hold of the blade in his left hand and Riku prepared to trade blows with him again when the knight froze in mid step. He stood straight, lowering his blade, and turned his head towards the left, as if something had caught his attention. _"O.K.," _Riku thought, _"this is weird."_

* * *

"_Very weird indeed."_ Kairi thought as the female knight that was attacking her turned her attention to the window. Kairi couldn't understand: one second she was being attacked by this woman with an icicle like Keyblade, managing to fend of the attacker quite well despite her lack of experience, and the next the woman seemed to take an unnatural interest in the window. _"Or maybe what's beyond it."_ Kairi realized. She tried to think of what was directly outside: Selphie and Sora's houses, the town library, after that lay the ocean and the island where she and the others would hang out. She looked back to the knight, and the knight turned to face her. She raised her Keyblade and pointed in the direction she had been facing, and Kairi heard a voice in her head, not of the knight, but a deep, malevolent voice, that resonated with evil: _"Come to the island, if you care for the fate of your village."_

With that the Heartless knights shrouded themselves in darkness and disappeared before the eyes of Sora, Riku and Kairi. The Keybearer and his friends stood in their respective homes for a few seconds before rushing past their now awake and confused parents (or in Kairi's case a still snoozing mayor) and met up in the town square. No words were spoken between them, for none were needed. The three nodded to each other and dashed to the boats.

* * *

Sora felt the sand crunch under his feet, the once everyday sound now having taken on a sister element. As Riku and Kairi stepped out of the boat Sora scanned the beach and ridge for anything out of the ordinary. It wasn't hard to do, the new knight at the edge of the waterfall pool made no attempt to hide himself. His back faced the three friends, a deeply faded dark purple cape fluttered in the wind that was picking up around them. While the other knight's helmets had ears and their armour was polished, this knight had a helmet sporting a pair of foot long horns which curved up slightly halfway along their length, and his silver armour was faded by years of battle and weather.

"I could have ordered the Chasers to burn down your village and turn every single person there into a Heartless." the knight began, still not turning towards Sora and the others. "I could have ordered them to turn you and Riku into Heartless. I could have ordered them to take the princess and you two would have been none the wiser. Know why I didn't?"

"Because you're twisted by darkness and like toying with your victims?" Riku put in as he summoned Way to the Dawn, Sora and Kairi quickly following suit with their own Keyblades.

The knight seemed to ponder that answer "Well, that's certainly a part of it lad. Really I wanted to open your eyes Sora, and show what is the true fate of all Keybearers."

"The true fate of all Keybearers?" Sora questioned.

"No matter what world they hail from, no matter when they are chosen, no matter how many times they battle they darkness in the name of the light, it is an eternal battle. And all Keybearers eventually realize that to struggle against darkness is a futile one. When that happens, I come to free them from their miserable existence." The knight turned at last to face the trio, and like his Chasers his face was completely covered save for one detail: a thin open slit in the helmet revealed glowing red eyes.

"So that's why you sent you Chasers to attack us Kuja—"

"My name's not Kuja," the knight interrupted Sora "though he is a good friend of mine. He had a very, shall we say, eventful conversation with the king and the other two. He was even kind enough to allow me to do as I pleased with you and Riku so long as I didn't harm the princess. But don't worry: seeing how you're still blind to the fate of those who bear the key, I won't take your heart just yet. However," the knight continued, pointing at Riku "you'll still make an excellent addition to the ranks of my Chasers."

Sora, Riku, and Kairi quickly assumed their fighting stances, if a fight was coming, it would start soon. "You're going to have to go through me if you want Riku!" Sora told the knight.

"Heh, as if he could beat us anyway." Riku said, looking to Sora and then Kairi before adding "All of us."

"Right." Kairi smiled, and then turned her attention back to the knight along with the other two.

The knight looked over the three friends standing defiantly before him. "Be that your decision? Very well, this could have been over quickly," the knight said as he held out his arm, grasping the dark Keyblade in his hand and though his mouth could not be seen, one could tell he was smirking. "But if you want to fight, I, GARLAND, WILL KNOCK YOU ALL DOWN!"

"Right, well that's official the lamest one-liner of all time." Sora said as he relaxed a little. If that was Garland's idea of being intimidating, maybe he wasn't as powerful as he appeared. The thought was immediately pushed from his mind as the Chasers appeared between Sora and his friends and roughly shoved the Keybearer forward then turned their attention towards Riku and Kairi. Rather than attack immediately, Garland opted to set himself in a duel stance. He had no intention of taking this fight seriously, but there was no reason for Sora to know that.

The Keybearer quickly regained his balance and tried to block out the sound of Keyblades clashing behind him. He couldn't afford to take his eyes of the opponent in front of him. "So, one-on-one?" Sora questioned.

"Let's just see if you fighting is as lacking as your insight. Make the first move, Keybearer." Garland sneered as he blocked Sora's forward thrust.

* * *

"You're not doing too bad Kairi." Riku commented as he side-stepped the Chaser with the large Keyblade and then slashed him across the back, managing to rip into the armour, thought the knight seemed unaffected.

Kairi pushed back the shorter male Chaser before answering, "I did learn from the best." It was certainly true, she'd convinced Sora to practice with her using wooden swords ("I'm not going to become the princess who always needs to be rescued." she had told him.) and now she was more than thankful that she had. The three Chasers brought their blades down upon her, but Riku stepped up beside her and the two managed block the attack and lock the Chasers blades together.

The three Chasers looked at their locked Keyblades, then at the two friends before them. There was a flash of light as the blades disappeared and reappeared and the Chasers were ready to fight again.

* * *

"_He's striking without target weak points, never lets up the attack, and he's far too wasteful with techniques: Self-taught, definitely. A pity too, the lad has talent."_ Garland mused as he deflected each blow Sora attempted to hit him with. The two Keyblades clashed again and Sora and Garland came face-to-face, or as close to a face-to-face as was possible with Garland's helmet. "I see the Moogle's craftsmanship hasn't deteriorated over the years. The Ultima weapon looks as fine as ever."

"What?" Sora asked, getting more and more confused by the minute.

"Oh come now," Garland rolled his eyes "it doesn't strike you as odd that the Moogle's knew all about key chains and knew that their's was the most powerful." Still holding his Keyblade with one hand, he raised the other above and it began to glow with a sickly red light. "Now excuse me as I take back what was once mine."

The sound of clinking metal drew Sora's attention downward, just in time to watch the key chain break from the Kingdom key and into Garland's waiting hand, who thanked the young Keybearer by putting full force behind his blade and pushing Sora aside as though he were made of paper. Sora was thankful that the blow only pushed him back but kept him on his feet, and gave him the opportunity to attach the Fenrir key chain. "Take back what's… then you are… you were chosen by the key too?" Sora asked.

Garland ignored him, instead attaching the Ultima key chain to his Keyblade. It held the identical appearance to when Sora had used it, though the blade had turned pitch black and the heart at the end was now a deep red. "Magnificent." Garland muttered as ran his hand over the broad side of the Keyblade. He twitched slightly as though startled, the looked at Sora and his friends still battling behind him. "Enough of this," he said and waved his hand, the Chasers taking their master's heed and disappearing back into the darkness. "I'm a patient man, and you're still too blind to ways of the cosmos to be claimed by darkness. The others will understand; four wielders or one wielder, our plan will still succeed." He turned and started towards the secret place, then seemed to remember something, "If want to stop us, seek us out. You'll find who we are soon enough, right Riku? Oh, one last thing Sora, I think you should consider sealing your world's keyhole. The other Heartless aren't as kind as my Chasers." With that he walked into the shadows.

Sora quickly looked back to make sure Riku and Kairi were alright before he rushed after Garland. He arrived just in time to watch a beam of red light spring from Garland's blade and hit the keyhole on the wooden door, which immediately dissolved into blinding white portal. Garland took when last look at Sora, then stepped into portal without a word, and it turned back into the keyhole. Sora promptly sealed it, then let the Keyblade disappear, lost in his thoughts. He was normally a pretty upbeat guy, but he knew what had just happened. Garland had toyed with him; he probably could have taken Sora's heart at any time, but he just taunted Sora to chase after him.

Sora was so wrapped up in his thoughts he never heard Kairi and Riku enter the cave and stand beside him, until he heard Kairi ask if he was alright. "I'm fine Kairi." He told her, giving her one of his smiles to assure her. He realized that "fate of the Keybearers" Garland had been talking about was wrong. As long as Riku and Kairi were with him, he'd be o.k., no matter what happened ahead.

* * *

The three Chasers stood on the Keyblade planet, surrounded by those blades. This was where all Keyblades that existed came to rest when their wielders were claimed by darkness. It was also were Keyblades rested when not in use, and before the three knight stood Sora, Riku, and Mickey's Keyblades. They grabbed the Keyblades and held them, enjoying the familiarity; it made them feel as though they were not Heartless. In the distance a man walked forward and Chasers turned to face him. They stood at full attention, giving the second master of the Chasers the full respect he deserved.

* * *

****

**_A/N: _**The only note I really have is that I changed the Keyblades of the shorter male Chaser (One-Winged Angel) and female Chaser (Diamond Dust) to blades from Final Mix/CoM, since I can't seem to get a good look at them in the secret ending. I'd like to thank CSOmega and Tolea for their reviews. Tolea, about your OC, it looks alright, except for two problems:1) Travers Town was composed of fragments worlds destroyed by the Heartless, so when the worlds were restored at the end of KH1, it disappeared, so it won't be appearing and 2) I'm not including any original characters in the "main party" (this story wasn't supposed to have any to begin with). However, I do have my own suggestion: since Midgar will be a world in my story and it can't have Cid in it, how about your character take his place? You'll get to interact with all the FF7 guys, you'll get the Shera (the FF7:AC airship), and everything else you asked, and you still get to help Sora and co. out for 2-3 chapters. So tell me what you think. And speaking of Midgar (and in an attempt to get some reviews), I'm putting a little poll in to decide the order of worlds appearing in this story, (I've already decide on the worlds, so pleased don't suggest any). The initial choices are:

1) Notre Dame (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

2) Lost Jungle (The Jungle Book)

3) Midgar (Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children)

4) The Caribbean (Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest)

So please leave a review with you choice, the order will be announced at the end of the next chapter.


	4. Chapter 3

**_Disclaimer:_** I do not own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of Square-Enix's or Disney's characters. All properties are owned by their respective owners.

* * *

__

_**Chapter 3**_

"So this is what Kuja is capable of, huh." Sora thought aloud as he looked into what had once been Disney Castle's throne room. The last time he'd been here the room had been filled with dozens of Bolt Tower Heartless, but they had done less damage than a single man had been able to. "You sure he didn't have any hidden Heartless around?"

"Not with the Cornerstone in place." Donald answered.

"Maybe he tampered with the Cornerstone?" Kairi suggested. "Sora mentioned Maleficent pulled off something like that once."

"I don't think that's it." Goofy said "Checked the Cornerstone myself once things settled down a bit. Nothing seemed outta place to me."

"The Cornerstone only stops Heartless, anyway. People with darkness their hearts can still come and go as they please. That's why I had to deal with Pete the way I did." King Mickey explained as he entered the shattered room. After greeting his friends, he invited them into the castle library, where Sora and the others recounted their battle with Garland and the Keyblade Chasers. "Well, we know Kuja's got at least one other person on his side."

"Probably more; Maleficent had six people helping her when she kidnapped the princesses, and Organization XII is pretty self-explanatory." Riku said. "Strength in numbers, though the plan might work better if the members actually worked together."

"Maybe the darkness inflated their egos." Donald muttered. "But, if the Chasers are after wielders, then you three and his majesty are in danger, especially if we go after these guys."

"I don't think we have a lot of choice. If we don't, they'll probably try to get our attention again, and if they can do this here…" Kairi let the sentence hang. If Kuja could do that to Disney Castle's throne room, he could probably repeat it anywhere; such as a planet where innocent people were sure to be hurt.

Mickey sighed as he contemplated. "What I can't believe is that someone has mastered lost magic. Not even master Yen Sid could use Flare, unless he had a death wish."

"What do you mean?" Sora asked. The way Mickey and Donald went on about it, Yen Sid was not only a sage without equal, he's was also peerless when it came to the magical arts.

"Lost magic is different from the kind we use." Donald quacked. "You know how when you use magic too much, you get exhausted and can't cast it anymore. Well, lost magic takes that a step farther: you can do more with it, you can use magic in different ways, you can use magic that would seem like miracles, but, in exchange, the strain it puts in your body is much greater. If they're not well trained in the art, it could knock the caster unconscious."

"Or even kill them if the spell is powerful enough." Riku finished. "Maleficent mentioned this stuff once or twice when…I…" he broke off and looked at his shoes guiltily. Kairi placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes; no one was blaming him for anything that had happened back then. He smiled slightly then continued "Anyway, she was interested in these spells, but she didn't know a lot about them and she considered them so dangerous she probably wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole."

"Not surprising, few people know this kind of magic exists, and even fewer know anything about it besides it existence." Mickey said. "That's why I'm going to speak with master Yen Sid about this. If anyone would know about mastering this kind of magic, it'll be him."

"Your Majesty, you can't go off on your own again!" Goofy protested. "If this Garland guy is after Keyblade wielders, then—"

"Garland already said he wants Riku and Sora, which is why you two are going with them, and Kuja need's at least one Keyblade wielder around who's not a princess, so I don't think I'm in that much danger." Mickey explained.

"I still don't like this." Donald muttered.

"At least this time you know I'm leaving and where I'm going." Mickey assured. "I'll catch up with you fellas as soon as I can. Do you have any idea where you're heading?"

"Well, Garland talked about the Moogles, so I guess we'll start at Radiant Garden and see what we can learn from them." Sora said. "Maybe we can ask Tron and Merlin, and see if they know anything while we're there."

"Sounds like a plan. Good luck to all of you."

* * *

The Kingdom-class ship descended the clouds of the Radiant Garden, landing in the Gummi dock on the outskirts of town. The five friends exited the craft and were very surprised to see Leon. "Hey," Sora waved "were you waiting for us?"

"No, actually, but it's still good to see you guys." Leon said as he walked up to the five, recognizing everyone except one person. "You must be Riku. It's good to finally meet you." He held out his hand for the silver haired youth.

"Likewise." Riku replied shaking Leon's hand, "Sora's told me all about you and the others. I like what you've done with the place." Riku gestured towards the town.

"We've more or less fixed up all the damaged the Heartless caused." Leon explained "Now—"

"Now we're just waiting for Leon's girlfriend!" a very exited voiced exclaimed as Sora and Kairi found themselves in a bear hug courtesy of the Great Ninja Yuffie. "You two can't be the only cute couple around, right?"

While Sora and Kairi tried to break free of the Great Ninja, Donald and Goofy exchanged disbelieving glances "Leon has a girlfriend?" they asked in unison.

"It's not like that. She's just…" Leon went into his typical silent mode, earning a chuckle from the assembled group. Fortunately for Leon, a deep blue coloured Gummi ship landed at that moment.

It seemed like an eternity before the ship's hatch opened, and Yuffie let go of Sora and Kairi to bear hug whoever was in the ship, but quickly found her self on the ground, tackled by a fair sized dog. "Angelo, be nice to Yuffie." the woman getting out of the Gummi ship told the dog. The dog named Angelo obliged, and Yuffie shot up and wrapped her arms around the woman, who returned the gesture.

"I'm glad you're back Rinoa!"

"It's nice to be back. Last time I saw you, you couldn't even throw a shuriken straight; now your probably the greatest ninja to ever live." Rinoa told the younger girl.

"You know it!" Yuffie exclaimed, shooting a quick look back telling Leon to say hello, but young man seemed to have taken an unnatural interest in a broken pipe on the wall. She rolled her eyes and tried to explain Leon's behaviour, only to find Rinoa talking with the Keybearer and his friends. Well, it was just as well. Someone had to drag Leon over to her after all.

* * *

Sora laughed as Angelo licked his face. "Looks like he's taken a liking to you." Rinoa told the Keybearer. "Angelo always manages to see the best in people. And seeing as how I don't remember you guy's from ten years ago, I guess you're not from around here?"

"No, we're not, but we're good friends with Leon and everyone. I'm Sora," he introduced, "This is Donald and Goofy, and this is Riku and Kairi."

"I don't recall a Leon." Rinoa stated, only to have the young man roughly shoved into her by Yuffie. Taking all of her balance not to topple over, she finally got a good look at the man, and recognized him immediately "…Squall? Is that you?"

Leon A.K.A. Squall tired to think of something, ANYTHING to say. Hadn't he gone over what he was going to say when he'd gotten her letter? Unable to think of anything, he settled on a "Hey Rinoa."

"Aww, aren't they cute together?" Yuffie asked Kairi.

"I'll…take your word for it." Kairi said as she watched Leon very awkwardly attempt to talk with the other girl. She was just a little thankful when Riku tapped her on the shoulder and motioned they we're heading into town. "Look, we have to take care of some stuff, but we'll probably see you guy's in a bit, o.k.?"

"Alright, but you better hurry or you'll miss the good part." Yuffie winked. Kairi quickly followed after Sora and the others, while Yuffie wondered if Great Ninja Yuffie and Part Time Matchmaker had a good ring to it.

* * *

"What did you do?! Toss these into a volcano?!" the Moogle exclaimed as he looked over the Save the King and Save the Queen. The group had decided that, if they were going to see the Mogs anyway, they might as well see if the weapons could be repaired.

Donald sighed and repeated what he had been saying for the last ten minutes "Can you fix them or not?"

"Kupo! What kind of question is that? Of course I can fix them, but I don't appreciate you smashing these to bits." The Mog angrily huffed as he went into the synthesis shop to repair the staff and shield.

"Are they usually like that?" Riku whispered into Sora's ear. This was his first time seeing Moogles up close, and he hadn't expected the cute creature to be so irritable.

"Only if you make them angry…or touch their pom-pom. Never do that if you value your life." Sora whispered back. He, Donald, Goofy, Kairi and Pinocchio had learned that the hard way back in Traverse Town, and he didn't exactly feel like running away from a Gunblade swinging Mog again.

About twenty minutes later the Mog handed back the staff and shield, muttering "Careless adventures ruining perfect pieces of equipment." In normal voice he added "Now, is there anything else I can do for you?"

Sora asked "What can you tell us about a guy named Garland?" Perhaps he should have been more subtle, because the Moogle's reaction was…decidedly negative.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT GARLAND?! WHO TOLD YOU?! THERE IS NO GARLAND! GARLAND DOESN'T EXIST! SORRY, WE'RE CLOSED!" And the Mog quickly changed the store sign to closed, and slammed the door shut in the heroes' faces.

Riku cleared his throat, breaking the epidemic of silence that broken out between the five. "I think it safe to say that could have gone better."

"You think?" Sora said as he slumped downed. "Well, I guess we'll try asking Merlin then."

"Merlin left a few days ago. Said something about needing to train some kid." An unknown voice behind them explained. Sora and the others turned around and saw the voice belonged to another Mog. "Don't mind him; he's a superstitious sort. We all knew it was a probably a matter of time before the Keybearer learned about him."

"We really just know the name, what else is there?" Riku asked, making sure not to reveal too much.

"What more is there? Kupo, there's a whole legend about him. Sit, sit." The Moogle gestured to a few crates next to the synthesis shop. Donald and Goofy took a pair crates next to the wall and Kairi and Sora shared a larger one. Riku leaned back against the wall, using his hands to cushion his head.

"Well, long ago, there was only one world, and the people lived in the light..." the Moogle looked at the faces of his audience; they we're interested, but they'd heard this part before. "Right, anyway, once the worlds had been broken apart, there was still a massive amount of darkness. On one world the darkness was so plentiful that it created four elemental fiends which wrecked havoc upon the world: the wind died, the sea raged, and the earth began to decay. In this world there lived a young knight, and the light granted him a wonderful weapon to battle the fiends of darkness, the first person to be granted the Keyblade."

"And the knight's name was Garland." Kairi filled in. "But how do the Mogs fit into this?"

"Patience, kupo, I'm getting to it. You see, Garland learned a thing or two about the various crystals and magical items he found on his journey. He sought out the Moogles to forge a key chain without equal: the Ultima weapon. And wielding that great blade, he slew the four fiends and saved the world of Gaia."

Riku listened intently to that part: now they a world name, it was definitely a start. But he was now intrigued by the story. "If he was such a wonderful guy, your friend wouldn't have had such a meltdown when we brought him up."

"Too true. No one knows what happened: some say he stepped himself so deep in the fiends' darkness and it overtook him. Whatever the reason, he became a horrible corrupted creature, and began to desire more power. He kidnapped Sarah, the princess of Gaia, planning to sacrifice her in some dark ritual. Fortunately, he was stopped by four youths, and the light shining in one of their hearts lead to Keyblade to choose him as its new master. However, whatever Garland did was enough to revive the four fiends, and they knew who had forged the blade that killed them the first time, and weren't going to take any chances. They came after us, and we we're forced to flee, eventually settling in the Radiant Garden." The Mog's tale complete, he took a deep, replenishing breath.

"Well, that was an interesting story." Donald said "You wouldn't happen to have a Navi Gummi for Gaia, would you?"

The Moogle shook his head. "We never had any intention of returning, and if the Gummi existed it's long gone by now. Things tend to disappeared after 2,000 years."

"2,000 years!" the five exclaimed at once. The man who had toyed with Sora and commanded the Chasers hadn't seemed to be even remotely that old. "Wait, if this happened 2,000 years ago, why'd your friend get so freaked out?" Sora asked.

"Oh, there's also a legend that if any Moogle talks about Garland, he will send one of the four fiends after them" the Mog explained in voice as though he were describing the weather. "Silly superstition. He's long dead after all."

"Actually…" Goofy started before Donald clamped his mouth shut.

"Yeah, it'd be pretty weird if he was still alive." Sora said, though a bit of shakiness was evident. "Thanks a lot for you help." He turned and started walking down the down streets, the rest of the group following.

"So now what?" Kairi asked him.

Sora thought it over for a second. "Since Merlin isn't around, I think we should try Tron and see what we come up with anything."

* * *

A short while later, Sora and the others waited for Tron to finish searching through his files for Kuja, Garland, and Gaia. The sound of footsteps approaching put the group on the defensive and they drew their weapons. "Relax guys, it's me." the familiar voice of Leon told them, the man himself appearing a second later. "Aerith told me I could find you down here."

Sora quickly dismissed his weapon and apologised before asking, "Where's Rinoa?"

"Yuffie is showing her around." He told them. _"Thank God."_ He added mentally, as his short time with her had been extremely awkward, no thanks to a certain hyper active ninja.

"Is she actually your girlfriend?" Goofy asked, though Donald insisted it was a stupid question.

Leon didn't show any outward reaction to the question and simply answered "No. She's just a girl who lived here ten years ago."

"Excuse me, Sora?" the voice from the computer, Tron, drew their attention. "I have the results of the search." The results displayed on screen: Kuja: 0 matches, Garland: 0 matches and Gaia: 0 matches.

"Great, another dead end." Riku said, clearly agitated that their lead was getting them nowhere.

"Looking for something?" Leon asked

"Yeah." Sora told him, quickly filling him in on the details. "We were hoping Tron had some files on this stuff. No such luck."

"Hmm." Leon thought. "I can't say I heard of any of this stuff. But I do have something that might help you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a green orb, about the size of a fist. "Tifa told me to give this to you next time we saw you, said if you ever needed help that she'd be glad to lend a hand."

"Thanks." Sora said, taking the stone. As soon as it was in his hand it the stone sparked and Sora found himself surrounded by strange clouds. A beam of light shot up from the green orb into the sky, revealing a large keyhole. Sora watched the crown symbol appear beneath his feet and aimed his Keyblade. The beam of light shot out and hit the keyhole square on, resulting in a loud click: the path to a new world had been opened.

Sora found himself back in the computer, but his mood had definitely improved. "It might not be the world we wanted, but it's a start." He turned to Donald and Goofy and smiled "How'd you guys like to see Cloud and Tifa again?"

The duck and dog nodded and smiled. They'd both wondered what had happened to them after their last encounter. "Hope Cloud defeated Sephiroth and made it back in one piece." Donald said.

"I'm sure he did." Sora assured before turning to Leon. "I hate to just run off, but…"

Leon just brushed it off "Don't mention it. Hey, I'll take a look into Ansem's…Xehanort's papers, see if can find anything for you guys."

"We appreciate it." Kairi told him.

* * *

Ultimecia and Seymour watched as the Kingdom-class ship rocketed into the sky from the castle's roof. "Their on their way." The sorceress remarked. "I'll inform X-Death and Zemus about their guests and then continue on. You know what your doing?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." Seymour retorted. "This is babysitting! If you have so much faith in your apprentice I shouldn't need to keep an eye on what goes on here."

"I do have faith in her, but the tug of memories can be a powerful thing. Just make sure she remembers what side she's on. And keep yourself entertained; preferably without having Sin destroy half of this world." Ultimecia warned before disappearing. While Seymour did command one of the most powerful Heartless very effectively, calling it out now what draw too much attention to them, and they needed her apprentice to go unnoticed and complete her mission.

"Keep myself entertained." Seymour repeated. That would be easy: he knew three little sprites that would keep him quite amused.

* * *

****

**_A/N:_** So, as you can probably guess, the first world will be Midgar, and I can assure that, with obvious exception of Yuffie and Cid, the entire Advent Children cast will be appearing (and if there are any other Cait Sith and Red XIII fans out there, I'm actually going to give them some lines.). Anyway, the world following that will be Lost Jungle, and then I think I'll do The Caribbean and Notre Dame in that order, unless my reviewers ask for it another way. Speaking of reviews, thanks to CSOmega (I'm giving serious consideration to most of those characters.), Hana the Wreck (a fellow Kuja fan, nice. I suggest you all go read her story BAG now, its awesome.), and Mysteries Boy Wonder Robin (I'm glad your enjoying the story so far, and you had some interesting ideas.) Well, read and review, and hope to see you in Midgar!


	5. Chapter 4

**_Disclaimer:_** I do not own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of Square-Enix's or Disney's characters. All properties are owned by their respective owners. Also, the original character Tolea is being used with the permission of the authoress Tolea, the character's creator.

* * *

_**Chapter 4**_

"_What are the readings now?" Xehanort asked Ienzo as they made their way through one of the small forests on the outskirts of the Radiant Garden. Now that the mouse king had left and Ansem had been dealt with, he and his assistants we're free to conduct their research on the Heartless as they pleased._

_The younger man pushed a few strands of silver hair out of his eyes. Despite Braig saying it was an emo haircut, Ienzo was rather pleased with how it looked. At least he didn't wear his greying hair in a ponytail like some kind of ancient surfer dude. He realised that he hadn't answered the question, and quickly corrected his mistake. "The subject appears to be stabilizing. I expect the metamorphosis to be complete within the next 2 hours. I must thank you, Ansem, for allowing me to conduct this experiment." Ienzo said, being careful to use Xehanort's "chosen" name of Ansem._

"_I'll admit, I was uncertain about moving our research in this direction, but because of your success with the Palazzo subject, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt." Xehanort told him. It was true that Ienzo was a brilliant scientist, but it was Xehanort who had created the Heartless that they now studied, so he was clearly the greater genius._

_They arrived at the test point shortly thereafter, where two of Xehanort's other associates named Even and Braig we're monitoring various readings from what appeared to be a mutated tree: its branches were bare even though it was the middle of summer and its trunk was twisted and gnarled. The tree's bark a been dyed pitch black, and thought he wasn't certain, Xehanort would bet good munny it was an after effect of infusing a multitude of Heartless into it._

"_Hey, still got those bugs crawling in your skin?" Braig ask Ienzo in his thick accent._

"_I don't know; do you still have sand up you vagina?" Ienzo shot back._

"_Gentlemen, please." Xehanort interrupted before the two of them went to blows, at the rate they got into fights, it was only a matter of time before someone lost an eye. "Even, can you confirm the status of subject X?"_

"_Its transformation is approximately 95 percent completed, though it's turning into a Heartless that's vastly different from both the Purebloods and Emblems. I'm not sure this creature could be considered a Heartless in the traditional sense, brainwave activity suggests it has achieved sentient thought and is not governed by pure instinct." Even answered._

"_No surprise, this is not a typical Heartless born from a human heart." Ienzo explained. He understood the experiment better than anyone, it was his idea. "All living things have hearts and therefore the potential to become Heartless. Being able to turn a plant into a Heartless has proven difficult, but possible."_

"_Wasteful is more like it. We had to infuse over 100 Neoshadows into this over sized log to initiate the process, and all we have to show for it is a funny looking tree." Braig argued._

"_A funny looking tree that has over 10 times more power than any Heartless we've created to date! Do not think me a simpleton Braig, I—" Ienzo's rant was interrupted as a warning light went off on one of the monitors. "What's happening?"_

"_Subject X is giving off a massive amount of energy. I think it's safe to say its transformation is nigh complete." Even reported as he adjusted the equipment for this influx new data._

"_Put up a containment field." Xehanort ordered, knowing that with the energy the tree was emitting an explosion was inevitable. "Now," he turned to Ienzo once the area around the tree was covered by a sky blue coloured field "let's see the fruits of your experiment."_

_An eerie black light began to emit from the tree as it began to take human shape: it shrunk and its branches melded together into hands while the roots clumped together to form feet and legs. Xehanort was so mesmerized by the plant's metamorphosis that he almost didn't notice the containment field beginning to collapse inward. "Shit." Xehanort muttered as he took a quick look at the screen: the creature was literally drawing the field towards it and wrapping around itself as a form of armour. "Everyone down!" he ordered, just as the field became skin tight around the creature and with a mighty roar a huge explosion erupted, knocking the four scientists to the ground._

_Xehanort watched Ienzo get up and walk towards the crater where the tree had stood. The young man was fearless, always ready to push the envelope, and though he'd never say it to his face, Xehanort respected him for that. Quickly ordering Even and Braig to gather up the damaged equipment, he stood beside Ienzo at the edge of the crater, looking at the creature inside. "Well done, the experiment is a success." he congratulated the young man._

_In the centre of the crater what looked like a knight in sky blue armour was kneeling. His helmeted head turned from one covered hand to another, before he looked up the two men standing before him. "Greetings subject X." the man with hair covering an eye said._

_The blue knight thought it over: X…No, not X "I am he who exceeds death itself." The armoured man stated as roots shot out of the ground and melded together in a staff that would focus the magical power he felt flowing through him. He stood at full height and raised the staff to the sky "I…AM…X-DEATH!"_

* * *

Riku screamed and bolted upright, summoning the Way to the Dawn and thrusting it at the first person he saw: Sora. The blade stopped just short of piercing his throat before Riku snapped back to reality. "Sora, but…I was…" he quickly dismissed his Keyblade and sat back in his seat. "I had a nightmare." He offered in explanation, the chuckled at how lame it sounded. 

Sora nodded, as did Goofy and Kairi sitting in their seats. "It's all right. Must have been a doozy of a nightmare." Sora said, deciding not to press the matter. Seeming to completely forget about what had just happened; he smiled and added "Just wanted to let you know we're almost there, Sleeping Beauty."

"Thanks." Riku told him, but his mind kept drifting back to the dream. It so vivid, like he was recounting a memory, and since the dream was from Xehanort's perspective, he had a feeling the memory wasn't his. _"Did Xehanort's Heartless leave more then just the power of darkness in me?" _Riku wondered. Maybe that would explain why he felt he had known Kuja when he had first heard the name. But that raised the question of what was the connection between Xehanort and Kuja?

"Hey, you o.k.?" Kairi asked, shaking Riku from his thoughts. While she was just as surprised as everyone about Riku's outburst, they all knew it was accident, but Riku would naturally feel guilty about it, and she didn't want that. When he nodded, she smiled and then leaned up to the front of the cockpit between Donald and Sora. "I'm surprised there aren't Heartless ships on this route."

"I'm surprised the route was already cleared and opened." Sora answered her. In all his travels, he'd always had to fight his way to the different worlds, and the chance of an empty route seemed like the chance he'd win the lottery and get struck by lightning on the same day.

"Someone must have come through the route before us and cleaned out the Heartless." Donald rationalized.

"Probably Tifa. If any one could do it, it'd be her, hyuck." Goofy added.

"I'll take your word for." Kairi told him, before looking back out the cockpit and seeing the world floating in the distance. "Is that it?" she asked.

The world in question was unusual in appearance: the northern hemisphere was dominated by a very large crater while the southern part was filled by a giant city. "I've never seen world like this before." Sora said. "But I've never meet people like Cloud and Tifa before either. Guess this is the place."

"Then let's get going." said Riku.

* * *

On the planet's surface, a man listened to the radio intently as he circled the Northern Crater in a helicopter. He had unkempt red hair that ended in a long ponytail, and a pair of goggles were always on his forehead. A pair of symmetrical red tattoos adorned his cheekbones, and he was dressed in a dark business suit, though the jacket was unzipped and the dress shirt untucked. At the moment the man was bored out of his skull as he waited for his fellow Turks to finish their mission. 

"Tseng! Look at this." a female voice came in over the radio.

"Paydirt." the man named Tseng responded deep within the crater.

"Not a pretty sight is it?" the woman asked her companion.

"Who cares?!" the red head in the helicopter snapped. "Just get the damn thing."

"Reno, the chopper." Tseng ordered from inside the crater.

"You got it." Reno, the red headed helicopter pilot responded as he guided the craft into the large cave.

He landed before two people: Tseng, the leader of Shinra's elite force the Turks was a young man with long black hair and an impeccable business suit and Elena, a blonde haired woman who was also the Turks youngest member. Reno got up and stretched, sitting in a pilot's chair just flying around was hard work, wheatear Tseng said so or not, and opened the side door. "Any sign of the One-Winged Angel and the rest of the bishonen club?"

"No, and a good thing too; I'm not in the mood to spend another 8 months in hospital with everyone thinking I'm dead." Tseng stated coldly remembering his last encounter with the general.

Elena beamed as she always did upon the completion of a successful mission and held up a small black box "The important thing is that we got Jenova's head."

"Did you now? How nice, they've gone saved us the trouble Zemus." a mysterious voice announced as pair of knights, one in light blue armour in the other in dark blue, walked onto the ledge at the edge of the crater.

"**Indeed X-Death. Sephiroth will be most pleased with you three. Who knows; perhaps he'll thank you with the peace of death." **Zemus told the three Turks, seeming to speak to their minds. **"Now, if you'll be so kind as to give us that box."**

"Not a chance." Reno told the two knights. "Guys," he told Elena and Tseng "party's over. Chopper. Now."

"Oh, but the festivities have barely begun." X-Death mocked as he tapped his wooden staff against the ground. Seconds later the Turks found themselves surrounded by a small army Death Claw Heartless. The grey coloured creatures were about 10 feet tall and stood on massive legs, large sharp spikes protruding from their sides before curving forward towards a large head filled very sharp teeth. The creatures' most striking feature, though, has the large emblem of a crossed out heart on their chests

Elena griped the box closer to her person before she reached for her gun, but Tseng shook his head. No, this was not a fight they'd win by strength, they'd have to keep level heads and use their wits. Too bad no one gave Reno the memo. "Guys, let's go!" he shouted loud enough to probably stir Hojo, Heidigger, and Scarlet from the grave. "I don't know about you two, but I'm not in the mood to take on Sephiroth at the moment!"

"Reno, enough." Tseng chided as he and Elena started backing up towards the helicopter while the Death Claws inched menacingly closer.

"**You're not going anywhere."** Zemus stated, and with a wave of his hand a dozen Wyvern Heartless blocked the path between the Turks and freedom. Beneath his helmet Zemus smiled as watched the Tseng and Elena continue to back away. **"It's useless at this point, give up."**

"Oh, I don't know about that." Tseng said as Elena leapt back while he pulled out a flash-bang grenade which was promptly tossed straight in the air before he jumped on the helicopter. The grenade exploded with a blinding light and deafening sound, incapacitating the Heartless as the helicopter lifted off and soared out of the northern crater.

Zemus and X-Death stood motionless as the Turks made their escape. **_"There goes our mouse,"_** Zemus told X-Death through the psychic link he shared with all of his comrades. **_"Now let's see if the cat takes the bait."_**

"Was that your idea of a joke?" the silver haired man coming up behind them asked; Sephiroth, The One-Winged Angel. Without giving either man had chance to speak the thrust his Masamune forward, straight at X-Death, stopping short of impaling him through the heart, as if it would do him any good. "Please, humour me: you're going to help me revive Mother how?"

"**To start, the Wyverns are chasing after the helicopter with Jenova's head, but whether they succeed is irrelevant."** Zemus explained, his tone unwavering despite everything that had happened. **"This is only a minor setback."**

"A minor setback?!" Sephiroth spat. "They just took off with Mother's head. You said so yourselves that we needed that to revive her."

"No, we said we need a Jenova fragment of good size." X-Death corrected, being sure to pick his words so as they would not incur the former general's wrath. "Since we lost that piece, we will need several pieces equivalent to it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but those infected with Geostigma contain minute amounts of her essence?"

Sephiroth returned the Masamune to his belt and contemplated the possibility. "Can it be done?' he asked at length.

"It will be difficult, but possible." X-Death replied as he tapped his staff against the stone floor, willing the Heartless to disappear. "We can begin as soon as you're ready."

"Fine, I'll meet with my brothers and collect those afflicted. You two wait here with your minions." Sephiroth ordered as he turned and faced south focusing the image of Midgar in his mind.

"**You don't trust us?"** Zemus asked.

"No." and with that statement Sephiroth disappeared in sphere of darkness, leaving Zemus and X-death smirking beneath their helmets.

* * *

Sora and the others stood on a cliff, a huge city standing in the distant. It seemed to be divided in to two parts: a lower level along the ground like a normal city or town and a higher level suspended in the air by large support columns, though Sora could not see them from where he stood. The other striking features of the city were a large tower rising from the upper city and what appeared to be a very large cannon attached to it, pointing straight north. He and Riku had traveled the worlds and seen many wondrous things, but the city was definitely number one. Only one word could sum up their feelings, and they said it simultaneously: "Wow." 

"Yeah it is pretty amazing, but I bet it would be even better if things weren't in this state." Kairi said as she looked around the desolate landscape. It was true the city was a sight to behold, but even from where the five stood it was clear that it had seen better days; the upper city was scorched and cracked, and the land around the city was barren of all life.

"Yeah, I wonder what happened?" Riku responded.

"Were not going to find out by standing around gawking," Donald told the three. "I'm sure Cloud and Tifa can tell us all about when we see them."

"Guess the best place to start would be the city. Let's head over there and…" Goofy started, pausing when he heard something from under the cliff. He ran to the edge and looked under the cliff but saw nothing. He got up scratched his head, "Coulda sworn I heard something."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth something jumped straight up from under the cliff. Goofy took out his shield just in time to block the creature's downward slash. Goofy felt the force of the blow travel right into his body, but still found the strength to push the creature off him, only for it to make a single spin in the air and land on its feet.

Now Goofy got his first good look at his enemy: he stood about as tall as a grown man and was dressed in a dark blue military uniform that was similar to Cloud's when Sora, Donald, and Goofy had first met him, except that armoured plates covered both his shoulders and he wore a helmet concealing his head as well as gauntlets on both his hands, all the colour of polished steel. A band of armour wove around the chest, the crossed out heart emblazed upon it leaving no doubt that this was a Heartless, though the black skin on the creature's exposed arms was defiantly a hint. The Heartless' weapon was a large, conical, almost lance like sword, which the Heartless moved into a ready stance, only to be rewarded by being hit with a thunderbolt, dropping it to its knees.

"How's that for welcoming committee?" Donald asked as Sora, Riku and Kairi summoned their Keyblades. "What's next; a fruit basket?" Unfortunately, Donald's rant only seemed to draw forth more of the Heartless, as four more warriors stood beside the kneeling one, who pushed himself back to his feet. "Me and my big mouth." Donald muttered.

The Heartless brought their swords up to their shoulders and put their weight on their back leg. Sora, Donald and Goofy recognized the technique immediately and prepared to defend themselves. "Get ready to guard when they rush forward." Sora told Riku and Kairi, and they nodded in understanding.

Less than five second after the warning the Heartless rushed forward using the Sonic Blade technique. Being fully prepared for the attack Sora, Donald and Goofy blocked the first strike against them and knocked the Heartless back before dispatching them. Riku was less prepared then them but his experience still allowed him to lock blades with one of the Heartless before pushing him off and dissecting him with his Keyblade. Kairi, however mistimed her guard and only managed to redirect her attacker. She felt the edge of his sword dig into her upper arm and yelped slightly in pain as her foe gilded past her and then redirected himself for a follow up attack. As he rushed at Kairi again only one thought entered her mind, _"I won't allow myself to be helpless again!"_ With perfect timing she blocked the Heartless' blade and knocked it aside before she thrust her Keyblade straight through the monster's chest and it promptly disintegrated into black nothingness, a glowing heart floating away from its remains.

Kairi sat down; breathing heavily as she absentmindedly ran a hand over her cut. Not bad for her first taste of solo combat, her first time defeating a real enemy without Sora or Riku's help. Even if was only a single enemy, it was still an accomplishment, and she couldn't but feel a little proud. She felt a tingle on her skin and watched her cut disappear thanks to Sora's Cure magic. The young Keybearer offered her a hand which she gladly accepted once she had wiped off the small amount of blood on her fingers. "Well," she said once she was back on her feet, "that was a good warm up."

Before Sora could flash one of his grins, portals of darkness surrounded the five friends and they found themselves in the middle of a group of 20 Heartless just like the ones they had defeated. "They just won't give us a break, will they?!" Sora said as he quickly brought Fenrir back to his hand as the Heartless prepared to attack.

The attack never came, as two blurs of colour; one red and the other red-orange, rushed past Sora, and a dozen Heartless were vanquished in an instant, though no one could see what hit them. The two blurs the launched in different directions and Sora did his best to follow them: the red blur was followed by the sound of gunshots, gaping holes appearing in the Heartless before the vanished, while the red-orange blur seemed to rip the Heartless apart with unfathomable speed and strength.

In a twinkling it was over, and the blurs came to rest in front of Sora and the others as the last of the Heartless dissolved into oblivion. Sora noticed the man first, or more specifically his gold, claw like gauntlet and red cape, just like what Cloud had worn when he'd first met him. But this man was certainly not Cloud: his slightly taller stature, long, unkempt black hair, and tri-barrelled gun in his uncovered hand made certain of that, even though Sora could not see his face. The red-orange blur turned out to be a lion like creature the colour of flames, golden bracelets around his ankles and a scar that crossed out one eye. "The SOLDIERs keep moving closer to Edge. What do think they're after?" The cloaked man asked the beast, ignoring the five gawking figures behind them.

"Hey, who are you guys?" Sora asked the man once he had gathered his wits. "And where's Cloud?"

The man in the red cloak turned around, revealing a pale face that was partially covered by his cloak's buckles. His most striking feature, though, were his eyes: deep red, like blood. The man regarded the five: a boy with spiky brown hair with a giant duck and dog, a girl with red hair and a pink outfit. His eyes finally came to rest on the silvered haired boy, and an almost unnoticeable amount of fear entered his eyes. He took a green stone out of a hidden pocket, exactly like the one Sora used to open the path to this world, and said a single word: "Sleep." A bright light erupted from the stone, and that was exactly what Sora and his friends did.

* * *

In the city of Edge, a young woman worked on the engine of her airship while she listened to her favourite music. It was her passion for machines that had, at one time, made her Shinra's best pilot, and she was to fly to the stars. _"But dreams end up dying painful deaths in Midgar."_ she thought as she tightened a bolt with her giant wrench before tightening the ponytail that kept her long purple hair in check. She closed the service panel to the engine and took out a once white rag from her black belt and wiped the oil off her hands. She was pleased with how her Shera had turned out, but the airship wasn't capable of space flight. _"And Tifa totalled the only Gummi blocks I had when she came back."_ She smiled as she remembered her friend's crash landing return to Midgar. _"I spent over a month teaching her how to fly, and she still couldn't get it."_ She giggled a little, remembering a soot covered Tifa climbing out of the wrecked Gummi ship. 

She looked up from her airship at a computer at the corner of the hanger and noticed a blinking green light. _"That's odd,"_ she thought as she put her wrench in the holster on the back of her black shirt and jumped to the floor below, _"I don't have any programs running, and we don't E-mail each other since we have the PHS."_

She made her way over to the computer and clicked on the dot. A map of Midgar, Edge, and the surrounding area came up. The woman's shining yellow eyes searched the map and came to rest on a small green dot moving towards Edge. The dot was marked Fenrir.

"Cloud, you little…Tifa is going to rip your balls off when you get back." The woman said aloud, though she was smiling. She took out her PHS and hit the auto-dial for Tifa; she had to be the first know that Cloud had finally come back.

* * *

**_A/N:_** Three FF villains, Vincent and Red XIII, and this story's first (and likely only) OC, and this is the single longest chapter I've ever written. That's a lot of milestones there, and I'm very happy. Also, you'll notice I added a "World Marker" in the summary, so anyone jumping on now knows where Sora is. As far as notes go, the Death Claw Heartless are based on the Final Fantasy monster of the same name, and the SOLDIER Heartless are based of the enemies in FFVII of the same name (specifically the 1st class SOLDIERS on the route to Hojo). Also, if anyone's wondering why they knew Braver (the attack used on Goofy at the start of the battle) and Sonic Blade, I always figured there were certain techniques all 1st class SOLDIERs knew, and since Cloud believed he one, he knew those techniques as well. Also, since I'm a Turks fan, I decided to break from the movie and have all of them active. Also, in case anyone was wondering, Tseng's comment about people thinking he's dead is a reference to a translation error in the PS version of FFVII that lead many fans to believe Sephiroth killed him in the Temple of the Ancients when he was really only wounded. I know I thought he was dead until Advent Children, I was all "WTF?!" when it turned out he was alive. BTW, I called the cell phones the AVALACHE members used in Advent Children PHS, but does anyone know what they're actually called? If do, let me know, please and thank you. Last, but certainly not least, a thanks and response to my reviewers: CSOmega (glad you liked last chapter. Tidus and Wakka in KH are not the same as their FFX counterparts, so they don't know about Seymour, Sin, Yuna, etc. but the probably will all meet up in this story hint, hint.), Mysteries Boy Wonder Robin (Also glad you enjoyed this. I do have some knew weapons and limits planed, but probably no knew forms.), kittylover1890 (Glad you like the concept. You made a lot of predictions, so all I can say is keep reading to see if you're right, and don't forget that the FF villains are in those worlds too. See if you can figure whose where.), and a special thanks to Tolea for giving me permission to use her OC of the same name (for the record, I beat FFI with a warrior named Squall, a monk named Vegeta I'm DBZ fan, sue me, a white mage named Aerith, and a black mage named Vivi). If you ever want to add any details to her, PM me, and I'll PM you if I come up with any ideas. I hope to see all next chapters, because here's what you can expect: Cloud vs. the Silver Haired Men! Sora and company vs. the Turks! Cait Sith vs. Gilgamesh!…who the hell is Gilgamesh?!(A no-prize to anyone who already knows). Come back next chapter to find out! 


End file.
